Carbon Fiber Hood

[suekeiko]

I'm far from being a person who wants to race my hybrid, but I feel like it would benefit the fuel economy of my truck if the hood could be replaced with a carbon fiber one. Alas, I cannot seem to find one anywhere online. Have any of you come across one for this truck? Also, having seen the evening sun glaring off of the metallic blue of my vehicle, I think having the carbon fiber would help with that aspect as well.

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[JfredTrem]

I would imagine this being such a new vehicle.. aftermarket such as that would yet to be available.

 

[The Weatherman]

The hood is aluminum, so it’s the next best thing for weight. You might look for a hood wrap that could help with your glare.

I haven’t seen anything about an after market hood be available to date.

 

[The64]

A carbon fiber hood would never yield an ROI based on gas savings over the aluminum hood that came standard on your Maverick.

 

[suekeiko]

I see that it is made of aluminum and that carbon fiber would still be lighter.
So the follow up, is how much potential savings could there be in a year?

 

[fossil]

so little difference it would be near impossible to prove outside a lab environment.
might look cool though with the right paint color

 

[stoptothink]

I see that it is made of aluminum and that carbon fiber would still be lighter.
So the follow up, is how much potential savings could there be in a year?

CF is generally ~60% the weight of aluminum. The Maverick hood is already pretty light and it is not rotational mass. I'm guesstimating that the potential savings from swapping a CF hood is equivalent to keeping your center console and glove compartment empty, and not keeping random crap in the back seat or bed: pretty close to $0/yr.

 

[LM42]

I'm far from being a person who wants to race my hybrid, but I feel like it would benefit the fuel economy of my truck if the hood could be replaced with a carbon fiber one. Alas, I cannot seem to find one anywhere online. Have any of you come across one for this truck? Also, having seen the evening sun glaring off of the metallic blue of my vehicle, I think having the carbon fiber would help with that aspect as well.

The amount of money you would spend on a carbon fiber hood would not come close to being offset by a change in fuel economy. If you don't like the glare, just get the hood wrapped and call it good.

 

[NoVaJimmy]

A carbon fiber hood will easily run you $1,000. Let's say that based on a ridiculous assumption it netted you an extra 5mpg and that you do 15,000 miles per year.

Stock hybrid: 15,000 miles per year divided by 37mpg (combined) = 405 gallons of gas. 405 gallons x $3.75 a gallon = $1,519 per year in fuel.

CF hood hybrid: 15,000 miles per year divided by 42mpg (combined) = 357 gallons of gas. 357 gallons x $3.75 a gallon = $1,339 per year in fuel.

This saves you $180.00 a year in fuel which means it takes you 5.5 years to break even based on the purchase.

Now, the 5mpg is ridiculous and I would be surprised if you even saw 1mpg improvement given that the hood is already aluminum and it's static weight. At 1mpg improvement it would take you almost 27 years to break even based on the purchase of a carbon fiber hood. Not worth it.

 

[JimParker256]

One other significant consideration is how the carbon fiber might affect the crashworthiness of the vehicle. The aluminum hood is designed by Ford so it will crumple in a head-on collision instead of scything backward into the cabin and decapitating the occupants. CF can be designed to do likewise, but odds are that it will not be engineered that way.

There is no way I would put an aftermarket CF hood on any modern vehicle.

 

[JimParker256]

Best use of the word "scything" I've seen all day!

I was rather proud of that one! LOL

 

[volksnuts]

Interesting…. I’ve never even thought about how a CF hood would react in a front end crash
I would think it would more just break free and fly off

 

[Maverick2023]

I'm far from being a person who wants to race my hybrid, but I feel like it would benefit the fuel economy of my truck if the hood could be replaced with a carbon fiber one. Alas, I cannot seem to find one anywhere online. Have any of you come across one for this truck? Also, having seen the evening sun glaring off of the metallic blue of my vehicle, I think having the carbon fiber would help with that aspect as well.

you can always do a carbon fiber wrap instead. Looks same but no functionality. This would be a great choice since you don’t race with your hybrid

 

[jalbano2]

I'm far from being a person who wants to race my hybrid, but I feel like it would benefit the fuel economy of my truck if the hood could be replaced with a carbon fiber one. Alas, I cannot seem to find one anywhere online. Have any of you come across one for this truck? Also, having seen the evening sun glaring off of the metallic blue of my vehicle, I think having the carbon fiber would help with that aspect as well.

I have to say this is one of the more ridiculous post that I've seen.

 

[TSAINTS1115]

CF is generally ~60% the weight of aluminum. The Maverick hood is already pretty light and it is not rotational mass. I'm guesstimating that the potential savings from swapping a CF hood is equivalent to keeping your center console and glove compartment empty, and not keeping random crap in the back seat or bed: pretty close to $0/yr.

The base materials are subject to those weight percentages. A molded CF hood strong enough to match the specs of the factory aluminum one would not be 60% lighter if much at all.

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